OrbitalBeard
Member
After being completely and utterly obsessed with this game all week, this news makes me extremely happy : )
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It looks like The Witness was priced correctly: week 1 sales tracking > Braid year 1
- Thread starter INTERNET
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D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Close to beating it and it's certainly an early goty contender if not a sure lock. Generation wise it's up there but Im sure there might be others that are also fantastic, if completely different.
CaptainGyro
Banned
well yeah...but you also admit you haven't followed the game much.
There was poster here who said "are you fucking kidding me?" about the price. That's somebody who seems upset. Here's a guy on steam who is clearly upset
http://steamcommunity.com/app/210970/discussions/2/458607518206230191/
You can find other people who seem to be upset in other threads here:http://steamcommunity.com/app/210970/discussions/2/
I mean you're not gonna see people have Boogie/Francis like overblown dramatic meltdowns, but I don't think that should count as the only criteria for being upset
darkinstinct
...lacks reading comprehension.
Pretty sure he is talking about revenue and not units. Braid sold about 400k copies in its first year, at $15 that is revenue of 6 million (minus 30 % for Steam/Xbox Live). The same 6 million with a $40 price point would be 150.000 units (75k each for PS4 and PC) which seems like a good approximation based on what he said regarding Steamspy.
If it actually sold 400k copies that would put it at revenue of 11,2 million after the 30 % cut and his statement that he could make the next game with the same budget and possibly higher than that (which was 6 million) would make no sense at all.
If it actually sold 400k copies that would put it at revenue of 11,2 million after the 30 % cut and his statement that he could make the next game with the same budget and possibly higher than that (which was 6 million) would make no sense at all.
Interficium
Banned
Yeah, well, i'm going to wait until the game is 10 cents on Steam!
Scratch that, I'm gonna wait until Blow PAYS ME to play the game!
please get banned shit junior
Well.. I have a backlog and I had decided to wait buying The Witness until I got my Oculus Rift. But when I saw the piracy stuff yesterday I decided to do my part of the counterweight and hand out my money earlier, so I bought it anyway. And then I see this thread..
I'm really enjoying the game (albeit I'd like a little more "life" in the game, a butterfly or a bird, some animated trees, any animation..)
I'm really enjoying the game (albeit I'd like a little more "life" in the game, a butterfly or a bird, some animated trees, any animation..)
Turin Turambar
Member
The most popular torrent on KAT says 20.6 K in 5 days so it seems piracy is taking a good chunk of potential sales.
+23 years in pc gaming has shown me one thing: one of the main factors of how popular a pirated game is how pretty it is. Which makes sense, people just love prettier and prettier games, in fact entire generations of new hardware are done in the industry to have more and prettier graphics. And The Witness is super pretty!
But it's also one of the shallower reasons to pirate a game, so if the gameplay or the story isn't liked, people usually just fool around for a pair of days and then uninstall it.
And let's be honest, The Witness gameplay is very good, but niche. It isn't only a puzzle game, it's a hard puzzle game highly logical and abstract sometimes. Not exactly an easy crowd pleaser. Imo, it's clearly more niche than Braid.
So yeah, I doubt most people would have bought the game.
You made it in time for a nomination to the best shitpost response of GAF, January 2016.
But...but....but....some people in the piracy thread told me that you should never launch simultaneously on PC/ on PC at all, because then your game is doomed to fail? 
Anyway, very happy to see this game is a success, it is absolutely amazing and I can't even imagine how much effort was put into it!
Anyway, very happy to see this game is a success, it is absolutely amazing and I can't even imagine how much effort was put into it!
Jimmyfenix
Member
Good stuff
Hopefully we get some ps4 numbers soon
Hopefully we get some ps4 numbers soon
darkinstinct
...lacks reading comprehension.
Maybe they pirate the game because they don't know if it will run decent on their system?
SomedayTheFire
Member
People get really defensive about pirating games, huh?
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
What is this game most similar to? Something like the Talos Principal?
And has the nausea issue been addressed?
And has the nausea issue been addressed?
SpinningBirdKick
Banned
No surprises.
It looks like a quality game and the user base is much larger.
In other news, the sky is blue.
It looks like a quality game and the user base is much larger.
In other news, the sky is blue.
Yer, difficult to compare it to a game like the Witcher/Bloodborne. For me though it's definitely at the top.
I have never paid $40 for a digital game, so it's not priced correctly for me.
I don't care if a game is indie, made on a shoestring budget or cost $100 million to develop. For $40 I want a physical release that comes with actual property rights.
(NB, I have no problem spending much more on a physical release if a game is good.
I recently spent more than $150 on a physical, limited edition copy of DARIUSBURST for PS Vita.)
I don't care if a game is indie, made on a shoestring budget or cost $100 million to develop. For $40 I want a physical release that comes with actual property rights.
(NB, I have no problem spending much more on a physical release if a game is good.
I recently spent more than $150 on a physical, limited edition copy of DARIUSBURST for PS Vita.)
I read an interesting comparison with FEZ mechanisms, and a bit Myst
GlamFM
Banned
Only difference between digital and physical is a plastic case.
"Property rights" are just the same.
FinalStageBoss
Banned
But gaf said it priced itself outta the market lol
SomedayTheFire
Member
He basically wants the ability to sell it again. Any "property rights" argument made is just a cover for "I want the ability to sell it in a month"
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
Visually it instantly reminds me of Myst, I imagine that's intentional. But if what you say about Fez is true then that reinforces my worries about the game. It may be not for me as I had similar issues with Braid.
WordsintheWater
Member
Yup, same here
Fbh
Member
Good to hear. The game sounds great and from most comments seems to be well worth the price.
Also, some of the reactions to this thread are why I don't really like Twitter. His comments about piracy seem to have been taken way out of context and overblown to ridiculous levels.
To me it seemed to just be him saying "hey guys, remember that if you want me to make another game you should be buying and not pirating The Witness". But it seems like a lot of people interprered it as "Jonathan Blow says he is loosing billions and confirms that Then Witness is bombing financially and his days as a dev are over all because of piracy"
But Steam has a no questions asked refund system now. "I download pirated games to see how well they will run on my system" is even less of an excuse now
Also, some of the reactions to this thread are why I don't really like Twitter. His comments about piracy seem to have been taken way out of context and overblown to ridiculous levels.
To me it seemed to just be him saying "hey guys, remember that if you want me to make another game you should be buying and not pirating The Witness". But it seems like a lot of people interprered it as "Jonathan Blow says he is loosing billions and confirms that Then Witness is bombing financially and his days as a dev are over all because of piracy"
But Steam has a no questions asked refund system now. "I download pirated games to see how well they will run on my system" is even less of an excuse now
Sephiroth_VII
Member
I'll admit to pirating Windows games sometimes to see how they run under Wine before I buy them, making me part of the statistic who usually buy the game after pirating. If they run, that is.
Obviously this isn't one of those cases, since The Witness came out for PS4 as well, but buying a Windows-only game is a big gamble for a Linux-gamer.
Has there actually been $40 indie games from unknown devs that made the $40 price point work? I can't think of anything but I'd be happy to be wrong.
Yah - the only two obvious benefits of physical are ability to re-sell and ability to quickly re-install if juggling disk space (although patches can render this benefit moot in some cases).
I suppose for offline games there is the third benefit of always having access to the game so long as you still have your old console vs a digital game becoming unavailable for some reason.
Beyond that I can't see any other benefits of one over the other.
hydrophilic attack
Member
Really happy about that
It's an amazing game
It's an amazing game
Possumowner
Member
Fantastic game,glad to see it do well.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
There will be one, but no time frame yet.
You can't transfer ownership = you don't own it.
You can also lend physical games to others. Or give them away.
I meant for that to be past tense as I hadn't seen anything along those lines.
Honestly I'd think you'd need to be rather upset about the whole thing to be upset it would sell but I suppose a few of those probably do qualify.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though, we still have people genuinely upset over the PS3's launch price like 10 years after it came out.
How the fuck do you know that?
Blow said he's looking into it but didn't want to hold the game up over it. Will probably come out a bit down the line. I waited for Life is Strange too so I'll wait for this as well.
I rarely sell games but that doesn't mean I don't want to have the option to if I'm not happy with it.
True. That's a definate additional benefit. You can do that to an extent with digital but its variable by service which is a shame.
TBH personally I think digital should offer all the options of physical - there should be option to re-sell licence yourself, share or trade, etc.
I also think that, as books and music are achieving, your purchase should be recognized pan-channel: i.e. if I buy The Witness for Steam I should also be able to get PS4 version for no additional cost (or vice versa). The purchase should focus on the content and not also constrain to a channel. Of course I'm guessing publishers/developers love when people double dip and treble dip but really you shouldn't need too.
Of course it all ties back to consoles and idea they're walled gardens.
Anyway I'm meandering off topic so I'll stop there!
MMaRsu
Banned
I thought it was Assblasted
Anyway im happy if its selling well.
I would probably buy any game by Blow if they are as good as Braid and this
It's amazing.
Of course, not every pirated version is a lost sale, but equally some pirated versions are lost sales, especially down the road with price drops and sales. It's just terribly flawed reasoning to pretend that pirating does not influence sales at all just because the game sells better than the last game that developer made.
And apparently, a developer who feels threatened and annoyed by people who disrespect the large personal financial risk he took is "butthurt." Seriously, what the fuck.
Manny Calavera
Member
My thoughts exactly. We could definitely use more original games and less shooters.
Messofanego
Banned
Yup.
Not all pirated copies are lost sales
Some pirated copies are lost sales
Some pirated copies may lead to sales later (possibly of that game, possibly of future games from that developer)
It's a horrible grey sludgy soup that is almost impossible to quantify
Visualante2
Member
No big surprise. It should come close to breaking even before it goes on sale.
I wonder if this year will be a feast if famine for independent developers. Firewatch, No Man's Sky, Spy Party could all cost upwards of $25. For me it is simply less cash to go around for smaller titles.
I wonder if this year will be a feast if famine for independent developers. Firewatch, No Man's Sky, Spy Party could all cost upwards of $25. For me it is simply less cash to go around for smaller titles.